I just sized up some 36" Extra Long scale Fodera Diamonds and Thomastik Infelds (yellow/red packet) against my ABII5 and both sets look like they will fit, but the winding on the Diamonds looks better suited to the 34-37" range and the nut position. I'm just waiting for my stock Dingwall strings to deaden a bit more and I'll fit the Diamonds for a test-run. Cheers, EG

Let us know how that goes, it sounds pretty cool.

I hooked Sheldon up with Peter D'Addario to customise some strings for fanned frets. The initial request was for Chromes, XL Nickles and Prosteels to be optimised for fanned fret 34-37" with minimal adjustments to the bass. Sheldon has anything come of that?

Hi Guys, I'm going to chime in here, but if this is too much off topic for the thread, let me know by PM and I delete this post, BUT, I think the current Dingwall long scale SS strings are excellent and hope nothing changes with them. I tried the XL nickels and didn't like the extra tension and found that my ABII lost the edgier single coil kind of sound that I like. Having the nickels and chromes as additional choices would be nice, but I hope the current SS set remains available on into the future. John

[quote="John H.":1v1mqi7i]Hi Guys, I'm going to chime in here, but if this is too much off topic for the thread, let me know by PM and I delete this post, BUT, I think the current Dingwall long scale SS strings are excellent and hope nothing changes with them. I tried the XL nickels and didn't like the extra tension and found that my ABII lost the edgier single coil kind of sound that I like. Having the nickels and chromes as additional choices would be nice, but I hope the current SS set remains available on into the future. John[/quote:1v1mqi7i] +1000 John. I only liked the DR UFOs (Jonas Hellborg signature set) on the SJ4. But for the AB, Z and Prima models nothing beats the Dingwall strings

There would be no full replacement of Dingwall strings, just a supplement to offer ff players more choices and the ability to walk into a music store and buy them off the shelf. GHS is one of the only string manufacturers that would come on board when Sheldon 1st started out. They'll always be the OEM string.

[quote="Funkshwey":1jw9s1yu]There would be no full replacement of Dingwall strings, just a supplement to offer ff players more choices and the ability to walk into a music store and buy them off the shelf. GHS is one of the only string manufacturers that would come on board when Sheldon 1st started out. They'll always be the OEM string.[/quote:1jw9s1yu] That's great!

[quote="Funkshwey":ica4kyhb]I hooked Sheldon up with Peter D'Addario to customise some strings for fanned frets. The initial request was for Chromes, XL Nickles and Prosteels to be optimised for fanned fret 34-37" with minimal adjustments to the bass. Sheldon has anything come of that?[/quote:ica4kyhb] Hi Funk, Peter sent strings as promised, but they were regular stock and were too short. At which point my plate was full and haven't had a chance to revisit. I'll pick it up again as soon as I can.

[quote="Sheldon Dingwall":fvnyxepy][quote="Funkshwey":fvnyxepy]I hooked Sheldon up with Peter D'Addario to customise some strings for fanned frets. The initial request was for Chromes, XL Nickles and Prosteels to be optimised for fanned fret 34-37" with minimal adjustments to the bass. Sheldon has anything come of that?[/quote:fvnyxepy] Hi Funk, Peter sent strings as promised, but they were regular stock and were too short. At which point my plate was full and haven't had a chance to revisit. I'll pick it up again as soon as I can.[/quote:fvnyxepy] Could be perfect timing with the release of the Combustion to revisit. Peter will most likely be at NAMM too. Judging from quick PM's with you we really need for Peter to commit to the exact specs you gave me, or as close as possible. The adjustments D'Addario would need to make on strings that would install with a minimum of adjustments on a 34-37" ff bass is (1): a Bstring that's 1/4" longer and (2): to get them to do a tapered E & A. The taper on D'Addario's Bstrings are the same as the Dingwall B. Sheldon if I felt that Peter wasn't fully committed to coming on board to support fanned fret players I'd say move on. You might need to go visit him at NAMM again.

For Afterburners I like the stock Dingwall strings. I tried a set of Thomastik Infeld roundwounds on my SJ4 but they felt too stiff and the tone not very inspiring to me. I now use the DR Jonas Hellborg strings and I really like them. Very flexible and versatile tones depending on the pickup selection.

Hi Folks I guess I am a bit out of left field for most players but I, after trying everything I could get my hands on that would fit, always use DR high beams. I use an extra light set 30, 50, 70, 90, + a Dingwall B on my AB1, and the same but with a DR 120 B on my super J. As always this is a subjective thing, but I really dig the tones for funk and jazz, the slap sound is stunning, and they really bring out the piano overtones on the SJ5. I also find they produce the sweetest warmest singing tones when playing the SJ5 in the second octave and the harmonics are stunning. Happy new year all Nic

[quote="Nic DB":1m4zlmq5]Hi Folks I guess I am a bit out of left field for most players but I, after trying everything I could get my hands on that would fit, always use DR high beams. I use an extra light set 30, 50, 70, 90, + a Dingwall B on my AB1, and the same but with a DR 120 B on my super J. As always this is a subjective thing, but I really dig the tones for funk and jazz, the slap sound is stunning, and they really bring out the piano overtones on the SJ5. I also find they produce the sweetest warmest singing tones when playing the SJ5 in the second octave and the harmonics are stunning. Happy new year all Nic[/quote:1m4zlmq5] Hey Nick. Highbeams are the closet thing to being the exact same string as the stock Dingwall strings. Essentially they are the same string.

I just picked up a set of nickel DR Low Riders for my SJ5. It will be a while before I put them on because the originals are still sounding so good, but if they are anything like the stainless ones, they should be good!

[quote="Smallmouth_Bass":2mhjc13w]I just picked up a set of nickel DR Low Riders for my SJ5. It will be a while before I put them on because the originals are still sounding so good, but if they are anything like the stainless ones, they should be good![/quote:2mhjc13w] From what I've heard DR UFO strings 5str set will be released in NAMM 2009 so I am looking forward placing them on my SJ5. If they are as decent as the ones for the SJ4, I know it will be a killer match

+1 on the TI's, the 365's fit well on my bass. The gauge was a bit heavy for me(personal taste), I also felt like some amount of taper could have gone along way toward "livening-up" the B and E as well as helping decrease the amount of string height adjustment required(helpful for guys like me that own one Dingwall/like to play the same bass).

[quote="evilgus":2jhot0ax]...36" Extra Long scale Fodera Diamonds[/quote:2jhot0ax]I finally ended up fitting these to my ABII5 and really like them. They have a little more "honk" and upper mid-range voice than the stock strings, so I'm enjoying the difference. I might go back to the stocks when this set wears out, but it's nice to know of a good alternative. On the practical side, they are the right length and fit nicely with no thick wrap on the tuning pegs, etc. Cheers, EG

Here's a copy of some alternate strings that got deleted a while back. Sandy W. uses GHS contact core LONG SCALE PLUS .044, .060, .080, .101 and .130 (trims the silk) Comments: Likes the tension, feels he gets a lower action without buzz. Jim W. uses GHS G .044" (STB 044") and D .058" (STB 058) E (STB 098" non-taper) plus our B Jim has also tried D'Addario (but the tone was not as bright and the lengths were hit and miss) XL B 042, XLB 055, XLB075 (regular scale length) XB095SL, XB100SL XB125TSL, XB130TSL, XB145TSL Jim also tried DRs (we tried some samples but they were too short) "Hi-beams sound great except for B" 09/06 update I found that GHS STB 125, 95, 70, 58, and 44 provides more even tension across the board. 04/05 update GHS STB .058 and .098 added to a Dingwall set makes a better balance D'Addario XLB045, XLB060, XB075SL, XB095 (or 100SL), XB125TSL Glade R. recommends Ken Smith .045, .060, .080 Tapered, .102 Tapered (shave silk) plus our B. Frank M. uses Ken Smith Slapmasters .030, .040, .060, .090, with our B Arlington H. uses Fodera Diamonds Extra long scale. We tried a set and found them to fit fine, but sound dark. Andrew H. tried Ken Smith Bass Burners, Nickel plated Steel. Needed to trim silk to fit nut, higher tension required neck adjustment, nice warm tone, good for Jazz Rock, higher output. Jauqo recommends SIT strings for custom stuff - Eddie Speedy at SIT String 1-800-258-2211 Carl C. tried D'Addario ground wound super long singles from juststrings.com. Loves the "old school" tone and increased tension. BruceW. tried DR Hi Beams in a special extended scale set. They're long enough for the Dingwall B string, and they sound great on the bass. Pretty bright. Bob B. "I get the strings from "just strings" and I buy a standard 4 str. set and then order an extra .130, extra long. When I say XL, I mean Xtra long, not D'Addario XLs. I won't use D'Addario. The regular Ken Smith "Slick Rounds"set works fine for the EADG length-wise as all the strings have 38" winding, you just need the Extra long "B". The "Bs" come 38" and 36.5" (so the silk wrap will look good on a Fender). In reality, it's more like 1/4-5/16" of the silk wrap you need to remove. I softly score the wrap down the length of the string with a utility knife, pull the wrap away, and flash the fuzz with a match. As said, the string wrap goes well into the silk so that the full .130 fits the scale and goes right into the nut, no prob. I wasn't liking the finger noise I was getting with the DRs (or any round string), so I've been using these--no finger noise. These aren't flats but pretty close. being ground down I think gives them more mass than a flat (they sound FAT) and they seem to have more tone than flats (I use flats, Thomastik, on my EB-0 and my fretless. They sound more "fundimental"). And, Ive had no problems with the strings going dead as a roundwound would---they seem to last quite a while. I think it's a good alternative to flats--a fine string and most of their strings seem to come in that 38" format." Super J Thomastik PowerBass .047", .068" .080", .107" Dingwall Sales says they are phenominal. Derek B. GHS Contact core Super Steels for B 130 E 101 A 080 D 060, STB Super Steels for G 048, C 035

Excuse me, but could you explain what you meant by "the lengths were hit and miss" regarding D'Addario strings? My English is not that great, eh. Thanks.

[quote="Bocete":2a0ds89y]Excuse me, but could you explain what you meant by "the lengths were hit and miss" regarding D'Addario strings? My English is not that great, eh. Thanks.[/quote:2a0ds89y] That means some packs came with a b string that would fit and some did not.

[quote="Funkshwey":3s20qx6b][quote="Bocete":3s20qx6b]Excuse me, but could you explain what you meant by "the lengths were hit and miss" regarding D'Addario strings? My English is not that great, eh. Thanks.[/quote:3s20qx6b] That means some packs came with a b string that would fit and some did not.[/quote:3s20qx6b] I was really keen on D'Addario chrome flats - liked them on my parallel; but considering that I should order a few packs of super-longs from abroad only to gamble with the string length, I guess not.. Thanks for the quick reply.